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Letter: Don’t let Cobb’s free speech be victim

My name is Tom Metzger and I would like bring some common sense to the Leith uproar. First, I am a friend of Craig Cobb but that doesn’t mean I agree with what took place in the last few months. First, there are broad differences between what I promote as a white separatist and what I would call the right-wing version.

The story in the beginning was to encourage out-of-work young white men to get jobs in the oilfields. That was Craig Cobb’s wish also. Craig worked in the oilfields but kept his political views to himself until some busybody pointed him out and he was fired just for what he believed. Things went downhill from there. He bought the lots thinking he could encourage white families to resettle.

Unfortunately, the right wing of the movement got involved and turned it into a circus. My associates are all over North Dakota. You may work with one and never know it. We don’t take over, we just become part of the community. I myself live in a relatively small town and don’t have all these problems. No parades, no uniforms, no bombastic speeches, no rallies. Just another white working-class citizen.

Craig meant no harm to the people in Leith, but when a pet dog was run over and his house and a car were vandalized, he walked down the street not to terrorize but to tell whoever that would listen not to terrorize him or his property.

I have offered the City Council to broker a deal to diffuse this situation but so far they have not responded. Trials cost money, court-appointed attorneys cost money, incarceration costs money and taxpayers are the losers. Also, where is all this money going that’s been donated?

No citizen’s property has been damaged and no person has been hospitalized, so why does the City Council need all this money when Craig was set to leave before the first snowfall.